Morning journal and courier., 1887-01-03

Jeremy Bentham distinguished as the adjec tive portion in contrast with the substantive portion of the law. This has been to some extent re-codifcation law, but the progress has been mainly in modes of procedure. Not change in the substantive, but the ad- iective, not a change in the essential princi- ples of law, so much as in their mode of ap- plication. And in the simplifeation of modes of law, in methods of bringing principles of law to bear more simply, directly, and really upon cases, progress has been made, and much progress remains to be made. Now precisely this is what the theology which began in this country with Jonathan Ed wards, and whose end of improvement is not yet, has been doing, and will do. The essen tiai principles of the gospel have not been abandoned and they will not be. They are older than any of it's existing forms. There has been no loss from the substance of the gospel, but there has been much gain in the simplicity of the adjectives. We have not abandoned, indeed, all Roman forms of pre- sentipg the gospel, but have declared that we will not be bound by them. And am sure the mode of procedure has been sim plifed, and will be still more in our churches. We have been reviving the older Greek the oloey, and have dared to think with Origen, and Clement of Alexandria, and with Justyn Martyr, and with St. John, as well as with Calvin, and Augustine, and Iren@us, or in con- tact with that one side of St. Pauls many sidedness which is presented particularly in ! the epistle to the Romans. And the one l common motto of the theology of this pres ent time is to be found in that old saying of l that ancient father, F'Let us learn to live ! according to Christianity" Such is the dis tinguishing sign of a living and hopeful the- ology; let us learn to think according to Christ Jesus.
 have spoken of this movement, which is ] now quite general and powerful, as g move ment which began with Jonathan Edwards. fd Ha fnr hn hoI no I choice, the theological and philosophical forms of his day; but his spiritual being ! overhowed them, and his spiritual thought ! to-day is flowing on in broader channels l than he knew. The theology of New Eng | land has always carried in it 8 spirit and life l which could not be confined in the swad- I ding clothes in which its infancy was l wrapped. It broke loose from Calvinism by ! grasping boldly the principle of universal atonement for all men. It shook off 8 Ro- I nan limitation in its abandonment of the idea of mankind being bound, like one Roman family under the headship of Adam the federal theology, ,as it used to be called, and which used to be regarded as the faith once delivered to the saints. It proclaimed the individual responsibility of every sinner before God. It subscribed, but in no servile subjection, to the Westminster standards, the confession and the catechisms, which were thoroughly legal and political in their origin and their forms. It went boldly back to the New Testament and became again disciple of Jesus himself. And it would be disloyalty to the best traditions of our New England theology and bondage to yoke to which our fathers would have given p ace, no mot for an hour Should we not follow still onward the way of Gods providence through the new problems and the new sciences and the growing revelation which God is con- stantly making of himself in the history ot his redeeming love? hail it then as a happy NG hat rorlvIT anew our forms and our statements of belief to meet the demands of the hour upon our faith, to meet the demands of the world upon Christianity which is to be light for the oriental mind in India as well as for our selves. And I hail it as hopeful sign of the times that the instinct of the religious public even with swifrer and surer discern ment than the minds of many of us who have been trained in the theology of the Latin confessions has discerned this need of sim pie gospel to meet the missionary opportuni- ty of the present hour. l will suffer myself to allude but briefly to the controversies of the da, :, through all the alarm and clangor of which the new missionary era of Christianity is to be sung in. These controversies and agitations peculiar to no denomination, and they are originated by no men. They are providential pr Jblems and all churches, nay, all parties even, under Gods overruling wisdom ate contributing to the advance of Christs kingdom. In our own de- nomination the general movement which l have been describing has been obstructed or held back at two separate points, and two controversies in consequence have arisen. Of one of these 1 will not suffer myself to speak. Of the other I will say that the controversy which is still unsettled in regard to the ad- ministration of the American board may in- volve some temporary loss of money and of men to missionary service, but it should. in- volve on our part no loss of stesdfast loyalty towards the board itself. Policies change, and men change, but the cause of missions is the cause of Christ.
 And it is my firm belief that as the final result of this whole painful controversy all obstructions will be removed which now may lie in the way of the best educated and most Catholic missionary service, and that what ever traditional methods or difficulties in the present administration of missions would prevent the return of a man like MT. Hume to his work, or the sending as mission aries prepared to teach in the spirit of free Christian scholarship, as they have been taught in Yale Theological seminary, are ob- stacles and Instructions to Christian service which are destined ere long to be swept away before the rising public opinion of the churches whose servant, and not whose mas ter, the American board is.
 Two signs or our times are meeting, and the interpretation is not obscure; on the one hand an open door for the gospel to the higher classes of the Pagan world, and on the other hand the education of young men in our leading theological seminaries to meet with broad and comprehensive Christian wisdom the thought of men in all lands. I take occasion, before closing, to speak of one theological novelty, however which is not sign of anything but folly, and which it seems to me 8 true and reverent conserva- revised edition of the Apostles creed which nF may have received.
 Had we been told that some convocation of lord bishops after prolonged consideration had deemed an enlargement and emendation of that ancient symbol of our faith neces- sary, we might have received the result with pained surprise. But the new Apostles creed comes to us in the last week of the year 1886 unheralded, without authority or name, yet enclosed in official envelope of our American board. 1 should be gratifed if this public mention of it might serve to draw out denial of any part or complicity in this offense against all iturgical souls from the secretaries and prudential commit tee who are responsible for the ad- ministration and the good name of that board in all our churches. Even if honored and successful missionaries are to be stricken down because of differences of theo- logical opinion upon doubtful matters of revelation, we might at least be spared from
 
 even the most ancient symbol of the faith of the church seems sacred. The Apostles creed grew out of the baptismal formula of the apostolic church it's simple and solemn confession of the Christian faith was in use when the church was still one body before the division into the eastern and western churches. It belongs to the liturgy of all Episcopal communions and like the Lords prayer has become 8 common heritage and slgn of the one Catholic church universal It has become in all churches, so far as any uninspired form of words can become, a sacred trust Our Puritan fathers were bold ieonoclasts in their day, but know not that they ever ventured to offer to the world parody of an ancient creed. The American board has never to my knowledge given any man or body of men the right to use it's name and the cover of it's authority in circulating among our churches any private creed of pri- vate interpretation, and still less to offend the liturgies of other and noble Christian communions by laying sacrilegious hands upon a symbol of faith so ancient and so sacred and so dear to all Christian hearts as the Apostles creed. Surely this devisive the- ological novelty is no sign of that grow ing Christian unity in which all large and generous souls are beginning to rejoice And the dawn of that day of the Son of Man